


Tired by Fun, It Makes Me Blue

by Aer



Series: RobRae Week 2017 [2]
Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Angst, Circus, Day 2, F/M, Robrae week 2017, robrae - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-12
Updated: 2017-04-12
Packaged: 2018-10-17 23:05:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10604139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aer/pseuds/Aer
Summary: The circus is in town; Raven is concerned.





	

"The circus is in town!" Raven growled as the howl reverberated through the tower, disrupting her meditation.

"The circus is in town, the circus is in town!" Beast Boy continued chanting at the top of his lungs, and with a sigh, she alighted on the floor of her room. There was no way she was going to be able to continue meditating now. Especially since in one, two, three...

"Raven! C'mon, the circus is in town, we've gotta go!" The words, accompanied by a loud knock, arrived at her door. She opened it and glared down at the boy. He grinned up at her, eyes wide and pleading.

"No." Was all she uttered, before slamming the door again. While she had come a long way, and even enjoyed the occasional outing with the team now, a circus sounded more like torture than actual fun. Loud people, bright lights, _clowns_... The circus seemed like someone had taken a list of everything Raven didn't like, and set out to craft something based on nothing but. In short, the circus was Raven specific torture, and she had no desire to subject herself to it.

Besides, there was no way Robin would want to go. Not to a circus, and there was absolutely no way Raven was going to deal with the more excitable members of her friends at the circus without another calm influence.

She turned, making to go back to her bed- she could read, even if the noise prohibited her from meditating. Another knock sounded behind her. "Pleeeease? Even Robin said he'd go! It's team bonding!"

Hand frozen above the tome she'd been about to pick up, Raven frowned. The others weren't aware of Robin's past, and so didn't know what kind of memories a circus would hold for him. Raven, however, did. And it was that knowledge, ultimately, that compelled her to set aside her book and pad silently to the door. She flung it open, glaring at Beast Boy.

" _Fine_." She gritted out, stalking past him. "But don't expect me to enjoy it."

"Alright!" The green menace cheered, undaunted by her snarl. "We're going to the circus!"

Robin didn't react to her joining the group except to raise an eyebrow, shifting his ever present mask up. "I'm a little surprised to see you, Raven. Thought this wasn't your kind of scene."

"It's not." She shot back. " _Someone_ wouldn't leave me alone until I agreed to go." Her glare drilled into an unaware Beast Boy's back. Robin chuckled, but his shoulders were subtly tense. He wasn't unaffected by their choice of venue after all.

"Don't be too mad, he just wanted us to have some team time. You might even have fun." He said casually. She raised an eyebrow back at him. So that was what had gotten him to agree- Robin was all about the team, after all.

"I will go. I will even refrain from sending any clowns to another dimension. Asking me to have, _fun_ , however, is expecting too much." She said, keeping her voice dry. Robin laughed, his shoulders relaxing slightly. Raven hid a smirk of satisfaction at seeing her joke have the intended effect.

"Alright, Titans. Let's go!" Robin ordered as the cacophony of Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg grew to be too much.

"Whooooo! We're gonna see the clowns, and lion tamers, and acrobats!" Beast Boy cheered, Cyborg grinning next to him.

"I can't wait to try their hot dogs. They're supposed to have the best around, you know?"

"Dude!" Beast Boy protested, incensed as ever at the thought of eating meat, but they shuffled into the car without devolving into the usual argument. Too excited, Raven supposed.

"Truly, I look forward to this wondrous display of talents." Starfire chimed in. "I have never heard of something like this 'circus' before. It sounds most exciting."

"It is." Robin assured the other girl as they piled into the T-car.

"Oh, how wonderful!" She squealed, Raven hiding a flinch at the high tone.

They reached the circus tents without any mishaps or villain attacks, for which Raven supposed she should be grateful. It meant their city was safe, after all. However, sensing the well hidden discomfort from Robin and the overly enthusiastic bursts of excitement from the rest meant she would have much rather dealt with Dr. Light, Cinderblock, or even _Slade_ , _at the same time,_ than gone to the circus.

Cyborg had immediately headed for the food vendors, Starfire in tow to help him bring in the haul of hot dogs, popcorn, sodas, and everything else. Peanuts were, apparently, a tradition at this kind of thing, so when he returned he was carrying several bags of those too. Raven raised an eyebrow at him, but didn't bother commenting. It wouldn't do any good.

Robin gestured at the entrance, tickets in hand. "Let's go in, we'll want to get good seats." He suggested, and the rest agreed- Raven much less enthusiastically than the others. Robin caught her eye as she slipped past him, giving her a quiet smile of thanks. Her reasons for coming, then, had been more obvious than she'd thought. She'd have to work on that.

Once seated as close to the ring as they could get, Raven settled herself firmly in the uncomfortable plastic seat, grabbing one of Cyborg's bags of popcorn and ignoring the rest as best she could. Beast Boy was currently being bombarded with Starfire's questions, and Cyborg was busy eating, so she felt fairly safe from any social interaction.

"You look like a cat at the vet's office." An amused voice said lowly in her ear, and she had to restrain a jump, before turning and glaring at the voice's owner.

"What do you mean by that, Robin?" Raven demanded.

"You've been dragged somewhere you don't want to go, but you're too dignified to kick up a fuss about it, so you're making your displeasure known by ignoring everyone and everything that had a hand in annoying you." Robin explained, a smile twitching his lips. She glared at him huffily, and he laughed. "You're even glaring like one!" He exclaimed, and with another huff, she pointedly turned back to the empty ring, ignoring him.

"See? Just like a cat." He murmured, leaning close again, and she leaned away, forcing herself not to acknowledge him. He just chuckled, before sitting back upright.

Before Raven could decide if she wanted to say anything to him on the ridiculousness of suggesting she was like a cat- if she was going to be compared to an animal, shouldn't it be the one she was _named after_?- the lights dimmed, a spotlight shining down on a man, presumably the ringmaster, dressed in brightly colored stripes. The gaudily clad man started in on a welcome speech, one that Raven tuned out in favor of glancing over at the Titan seated to her left. Robin's face was turned towards the ring, but what she could see of his profile was relaxed, and so she relaxed slightly too. Perhaps this outing wasn't asking for trouble, after all.

Things went well through the first several acts- some gymnasts on a trampoline, the lion tamers Beast Boy had been so excited for, and a few others Raven didn't know the names of. Intermission came and went similarly uneventfully, and it was only as the second half of the show started that the first inklings that things weren't right appeared.

As the next act, a contortionist, was announced, Raven could feel Robin tensing next to her, but when she glanced his way, his face was calm. Feeling her eyes on him, he raised an eyebrow at her, and she turned back to the show without saying anything. Raven felt him take a controlled breath in and out, tension dissipating, but half of her attention stayed on him. She didn't need to be an empath to know their surroundings were getting to him. But he made no signs of distress, and so she continued watching the show.

"And now, for our grand finale, allow me to introduce our award winning acrobats!" The ringmaster bellowed enthusiastically, as three people, two women and one man, rang out onto the high wire suspended far above the ring.

Next to her, Robin was as tightly wound as a piano string. The acrobats ran through several tricks, and with each one, she could feel him disappear further into his head. When the trapezes were added, Raven found she couldn't take any more. She stood quietly, making to step around him and get to the aisle. Strong fingers gripped her wrist, and she found Robin looking up at her, face questioning.

"I'm going to get more popcorn." She explained in an undertone, shaking her empty bag in explanation. "Want to come with?" The alacrity with which he stood convinced her she had made the right decision.

The two took their leave silently, the other three Titans so engrossed in the performance they didn't even notice as their teammates slipped away. After paying for her popcorn, Raven eyed Robin, who was still far too jumpy for her liking. Rather than head back into the tent, she stated. "I think I'm going to choke if I stay in that tent much longer. I need to clear my lungs." And headed for one of the outbuildings of the field the circus had set up shop in. Robin followed silently. It didn't take long for the two to end up on the roof of some little shack, and Raven observed as, with each breath of clear night air that he took, Robin seemed to calm further.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She finally broke the silence to offer.

"Thought that wasn't your style." Robin shot back.

"It isn't, but for you I'd make an exception." She replied simply, offering him the bag of popcorn. Robin scooped up a few kernels, tossing them into his mouth and crunching them loudly. She made a face, but smoothed it out and looked at him attentively.

He sighed. "What's there to talk about, really? You already know pretty much everything." He pointed out. "You wouldn't have dragged me out here otherwise."

Raven didn't deny it. "I've been told talking about my problems helps." She replied, and Robin snorted.

"Using our arguments against me now? Low blow, Rae." He was smiling as he said it though, so she didn't worry.

"Turnabout is fair play." Raven responded, voice monotone. "So, do you want to talk about it?" She repeated.

"Not really." Robin sighed. She raised an eyebrow, and sat silently, patiently waiting. The minutes ticked by as they sat together in silence.

"The worst part was how much I wanted to be up there with them." He finally said quietly. "Even though I know it wouldn't be the same." Raven gave a low hum of acknowledgement, but did not speak. "Because I know how much good I can do like this, as a hero, but for a moment, all I wanted was to rewind time, and change everything." He admitted quietly.

Raven hummed again, more soothingly this time. "Would you actually mess with the timeline?" She asked practically.

"No! We've seen how much that can mess up things!" Robin immediately exclaimed, shaking his head almost violently.

"So then what are you worrying about?" Raven said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I don't know! The fact that I thought about it at all, or that I was tempted to!" Robin ran a hand through his hair.

"Everyone thinks about things. It's what you do that's important." Raven responded calmly. "For example, I think about sending Beast Boy to another dimension almost every day, but he's still here." Robin snorted, but the lines of his face relaxed.

"Beast Boy and those clowns, huh?" He said with a smile. "You really have more self control than any of us."

"Naturally." Raven replied dryly, a smile twitching the corners of her mouth. Robin laughed, scooting closer to grab more of the popcorn.

"Thanks, Raven." He said quietly, face turning serious. She turned to him, to tell him there was no need to thank her, when he leaned in even closer, brushing a light kiss across her mouth. She froze. The thing they'd been dancing around for months, that drove him to check on her late at night and sent her to the circus today, just to make sure he was alright, was suddenly out in the open, and she didn't know what to do. She saw him smile, before a second kiss landed, one hand lacing its fingers through hers as he tugged her towards him.

They drew back together to catch their breath, and Raven smiled at him. Robin smiled back, free hand tucking a piece of hair that had fallen loose behind her ear, before sliding down to cup her cheek. The moment hung between them, breathless and beautiful, before being abruptly shattered.

"There they are! I told you Raven would sneak out early!" At Beast Boy's loud tones, the two birds drew apart, sharing one last smile before going to rejoin their friends.

"Later." Robin promised, and Raven nodded, smile still on her lips.

Maybe circuses weren't entirely made up of things she hated after all.


End file.
